rhetorical question for the day

So I got this antique lace assortment at a yard sale a while back, and soaked the ones that were slightly stained in oxyclean for a few days, and am still planning to get around to boiling the badly stained ones in biz... and I have one question. In with the actual lace lengths, there are a bunch of these mini-doily blocks:



What on earth is one supposed to do with these things? Why do people make them? They're totally pointless! (and yes, the second square in from the bottom left corner has the silhouette of a squirrel on it.)

Meanwhile, I have mostly finished butchering the doll wig: ( pictures... )

Although what I should actually be doing is outlining plot to sort out how to handle the last two chapters. Unless they turn out to be more. And I've realized that the sad side-effect of having an Argent and an Aladdin as pivotal characters is that I can't abreviate everyone by first letter as I usually do.